Significance to South Australia |
| Imagine ... |
It is the early 1860s and South Australia has a population of 150,000. The fledgling colony is not yet 30 years old, and is struggling. Conditions are harsh. Imports from Britain are vitally important for the young colony’s survival. In two years, 500 people have died of diphtheria and typhoid fever. The people turn to the land to survive. Soon South Australians are producing more wool than they can use. Copper is discovered north of Adelaide near the town of Burra. It is not long before economic conditions in South Australia start looking brighter. Yet the markets for South Australia’s main produce, wool and copper, lay on the other side of the world in London. South Australia, like the other Australian colonies, is dependent on ships for its survival. Australia may have been built on the sheep’s back, but it was ships that carried the wool to market. Ships facilitated a trade that was the economic lifeblood of a future nation. Those ships are all gone now … all except one - a Clipper Ship named the City of Adelaide that sits on a slip in Scotland. |
| Migration to South Australia | |
In the 1800s thousands of Euopeans, primarily the British, made the long and arduous voyage to Australia. They all came by sea, many to establish a new life. It was a trade involving hundreds of ships from convict transports to gold rush clippers. Despite its pivotal role in the development of the country, the only significant remaining heritage of this trade is the City of Adelaide. The 'City of Adelaide' represents the foundation era of Australian maritime, economic and social history. Between 1864 and 1887, the clipper City of Adelaide made 23 voyages to South Australia bringing many hundreds of immigrant families to settle in South Australia. She made more visits to the fledgling colony than any other vessel before or since. The City of Adelaide is one of only two surviving sailing ships to carry emigrants from the British Isles to any destination. She is the only surviving sailing ship that gave regular service between Europe and Australia. The City of Adelaide was purpose built to serve this passenger trade. She carried all classes of passengers from the rich to the poor, from people 'of substance' to government assisted emigrants. Her firs clas cabons were considered to be the finest of the sailing ship era. Today their descendents living in South Australia number in the hundreds of thousands. |  |
| Supplies to South Australia | |
Apart
from
passengers, the City of
Adelaide carried
general cargo for sale in South Australia. Most manufactured
products which colonists required came by sea. In cases where manufactured goods were produced in the colony, they were usually made from imported goods using imported tools. This was the underlying economic rationale for South Australia, a colony which exported raw materials to Britain in return for imported British manufactured goods. | |
| Exports from South Australia | |
| On
the 23 return voyages to
Britain, the City of
Adelaide carried
an estimated 60,000 bales of South Australian wool. She was
one of a large fleet of sailing ships which annually raced the
Australian wool clip to the London markets. She held the record for the fastest sailing time back to London. Together with wool, the City of Adelaide carried the colony of South Australia's other major export, copper, as ballast. She carried it in bags, cakes and ingots for all of the significant mining companies at Kapunda, Burra and on Yorke Peninsula. Australia was built on the sheep's back. The country's properity depended on wool and the ability to ship it to overseas markets. The dozens of deep-water vessels which were built for that trade are long since gone, all except one, the City of Adelaide. | |
| Coat of Arms |
The clipper proudly
bore
upon her transom (stern) the
coat of arms for the City
of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia,
the city she was built to serve and after which she was named. More
details can be found here - Coat
of Arms. |
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| The clipper ship bore the coat of arms of the City of Adelaide upon her stern. This picture shows the clipper ship City of Adelaide as a hulk in Southampton in 1893. |
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| Home | Passenger Lists | Contact Us | Register your Ancestor | Donations | Current time in the City of Adelaide, South Australia: The
Trustee for Clipper Ship 'City of Adelaide' 1864 Preservation Fund
A.B.N. 84 036 940 231 |
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